Six-year sentence for Longmont man on gun charge

Shawn Russell was arrested in 2010 after 14-hour standoff

By Pierrette J. Shields Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
02/06/2013 05:50:45 PM MST

Updated:
02/06/2013 05:51:39 PM MST

Russell

LONGMONT -- A federal district judge in Denver sentenced a 30-year-old Longmont man and 10-time felon to more than six years in federal prison on Friday for felony possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

Shawn Stephen Russell was sentenced to 75 months in prison followed by three years on supervised release during a hearing in Denver on Friday. A federal grand jury indicted him in April 2011 and he pleaded guilty on Sept. 6, 2011.

He was arrested in Longmont in November 2010 after a 14-hour standoff with police at 720 Tundra Court. He was wanted at the time for escape from felony custody with the Colorado Department of Corrections. A woman at the home called police to report he was there, later explaining to them that she did so because she saw he was armed.

During the standoff with police, Russell withstood tear gas that was fired into the house multiple times. He told police he would not return to prison.

Russell sought refuge in the home because it belonged to his friend's estranged wife and the man asked her to take him in.

A SWAT team eventually entered the home and pulled Russell from the attic and arrested him. Officers who searched the home recovered a Smith & Wesson Model 58 .48-caliber revolver in the crawlspace. Witnesses said it belonged to Russell.

The weapons conviction marked Russell's 10th felony conviction, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"His 10th felony came after an armed standoff. Longmont is a safer place today because this 10-time felon is behind bars," U.S. Attorney John Walsh in a prepared statement.

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